The duties of a bus driver, and other operators of modern urban transit vehicles, have grown increasingly complex. Maneuvering an oversized vehicle through mazes of streets and highways in dense traffic requires constant attention by the driver. While technology has well provided buses with a number of tools useful in maintaining the safety and comfort of the vehicle's occupants, these adaptations can themselves become distractions for an already overburdened driver. In the interest of safety, it is important to keep the driver focused on the road ahead.
People riding on a bus often require information as they ride. One important piece of information that passengers need to know on a timely basis is the name of the next place that the bus will stop, so that passengers who intend to disembark can prepare themselves. In most cases, the bus driver is the only person available to announce that type of information. Because the information must be announced while the bus is actually in route, a time when the driver is busy actually navigating the streets, the driver making the announcement needs to be able to do so with a minimum amount of distractions.
In order to accommodate the necessity of making announcements, most buses come equipped with a microphone connected to a public address (PA) system that amplifies the voice spoken into the microphone so that the announcement can be heard from speakers throughout the interior of the bus. Microphones commonly used in buses include microphones mounted on gooseneck holders, hand-held microphones, and lapel microphones. In order to use a gooseneck microphone, the driver must reach for the microphone, pull it into position in front of him mouth, make the announcement, and then replace the microphone in a location out of his way. Additionally, the gooseneck microphone, when pushed aside, may block some of the peripheral view of the driver. To use a hand held microphone, a bus driver must pick up the microphone from its holder, hold it in front of his mouth, make the announcement, and then replace the microphone in its holder. To use a lapel microphone, a driver must locate the microphone, move his lapel toward his mouth and make the announcement. In all of these cases, it is likely that the bus driver will need to stop looking at the road for at least a moment, as well as take a hand off the steering wheel.
Currently, pre-recorded announcements are used to make announcements which can be scheduled. These scheduled announcements can be made with a minimal amount of driver distraction, however, scheduled announcements cannot accommodate the unavoidable changes that can be expected in the daily operation of an urban transit vehicle. A pre-recorded announcement system, to have the kind of versatility needed, would have to be supplemented by a live microphone to provide current transit information.
Therefore, there is a need for a public address system capable of hands-free operation and providing current transit information to passengers in a safe manner.